


CatCo Video Presents:

by poplocknsonnet



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Author watches too much YouTube, F/F, Social Media AU, game show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-05-29 15:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15075806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poplocknsonnet/pseuds/poplocknsonnet
Summary: 1) Recently married, Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor play the Newlywed’s Game for CatCo Video. Kara embarrasses everyone, Lena does a great impression, and both are too cute to not go viral, really.2) Supergirl meets a potsticker that she doesn't like, Lena discovers that her wife has a "type," and María nearly kills her boss with hot peppers in a new interview series for CatCo Video.3) Kara Danvers and Supergirl compete to create an amazing meal using baskets of mystery ingredients for a panel of three judges.Or: the author watches too much YouTube and only sees SuperCorp.





	1. The Newlyweds Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw Camila Mendes and Lili Reinhart from Riverdale playing this game on YouTube and ugh it was just the most adorable thing.

María Veracruz isn’t nervous; she doesn’t get nervous about meeting celebrities after having to film “Fast Food: Showdown” with Bruce Wayne, but still. Lena Luthor is something of a role model in much the same way that Cat Grant must have been for another generation of women. Lena is the CEO of the world’s largest tech company, a company that she has spent the last ten years building up from the smoking ruins of her brother’s lunacy, and meeting her in person is utterly thrilling.

That excitement is, of course, tempered by the identity of her other guest - Lena’s wife and technically María’s ultimate boss, Kara Danvers, editor-in-chief of CatCo. Talk about a power couple. The pair had recently been married and had made a few media appearances since, from an interview in The Daily Planet to a join appearance on Ellen. This isn’t the couple’s first appearance on CatCo since their wedding, but María hopes it will at least be their most fun.

“It’s the Newlywed’s Game,” María explains, “We play it with couples who are dating, or with especially close friends as well, but today the name fits.”

Kara beams and María can see her lean into her wife.

“I’ll alternate asking questions about the two of you. You both have whiteboards and markers under your seats - you’ll write the answer to the question without showing your wife. If the boards match, the person who the question isn’t about gets a point.”

“Got it,” Kara says.

Lena rolls her eyes. “She says that like she hasn’t watched every episode you’ve put out so far in preparation,” she tells María.

“As if you didn’t watch them with me,” Kara says, laughing, “Who was it who spent the whole day telling me how ‘adorable’ Arthur and Mera were after their episode?”

“I was just doing my research,” Lena says primly, “Good preparation is the key to victory, after all. 

“Ha! You think you know me better than I know you? In your dreams, Luthor,” Kara teases.

Lena just shrugs. “We’ll see who laughs last.”

“First question: what is Kara’s favorite meal?” María asks. They’ll edit her voice out and add the questions in subtitles during post-production so Lena and Kara are the only people in the video.

“Ooh! You’d better not get this one wrong, Lena,” Kara threatens, scribbling quickly.

“How could I?” Lena says with an affectionate smile, “All of the gourmet experiences of National City at our fingertips and you always return to the same old thing.”

The two turn their boards over in unison. Kara leans over to see what Lena’s written - her own boards reads, “potstickers!” but Lena’s board is a little more specific. “Potstickers from Golden Chopsticks on Chapel and Main,” it says.

“Yes!” Kara crows, before stopping. “Wait, no, now you’re winning and I’m not happy about that.”

“Lena’s leading by one,” María agrees, smiling at her boss’s competitive streak. “Next: what is Lena’s secret talent?”

Kara blushes deep, deep red. “Are you allowed to ask that?” she asks, “Am I allowed to write that down? Do kids watch these videos?”

Lena, who has hidden her face behind her whiteboard, mutters, “Kara, sweetheart, that’s not what she’s talking about.”

“What? Oh- oh.” Kara uncaps her marker and begins to write, bending over to hide her still-flushed face.

“There’s no way that this can get edited out, right?” Lena asks. María points at Kara - she is the boss, after all. “Oh, right,” Lena says, “There are perks to being married to the boss, I suppose.”

The two turn their boards around - Kara’s written “juggling” while Lena’s board says “piano.”

“Juggling, Kara? I can't juggle.”

“Everyone knows you play piano, Lee!” Kara splutters, “The question asked about a secret talent! Maybe it's just really secret.”

As much as she’d like to watch the two continue, they are on something of a schedule, so María cuts in. “Okay, question three - what is Kara’s most over-used word?”

Lena doesn’t even have to stop to think before writing. Kara, on the other hand, chews the back of her marker for a few seconds before eventually uncapping it. She flips her board - “potstickers?” she’s written. It’s not a match.

Kara leans over to see what Lena’s written. “Golly,” Lena’s board says. Kara bursts into laughter.

“I don’t actually say that,” Kara explains to the camera, “Lena does this impression of me and it doesn’t sound like me at all.”

Before anyone can egg Lena into it, she turns to look directly into the camera.

“Golly, is that the time? Oh gosh, we’re going to be so late, Lena,” she says, and María has to laugh - the soft intonations, the way her eyes go wide, the sincerity, are very accurate. Lena usually sits quite straight, but in this imitation, her posture is so exaggerated it's comical; her arms are bent, fists at her waist, her chest is thrust forward, her chin juts upwards, “Ooh, I hope Alex isn’t mad about that. Golly, that would be just awful. 

Kara’s shoulders are shaking with laughter as Lena leans in and whispers, “She thinks it’s an exaggeration,” to the camera.

“Hey!” Kara exclaims.

“Next question?” Lena asks innocently.

María glances down at her cue cards. “What is Lena’s order at Big Belly Burger?”

Lena and Kara both start scribbling.

“Nothing,” Lena’s board says.

“Lena (wrongly) prefers Shake Shack,” Kara’s board says. 

“I’m counting this as my point,” Kara decides, “Whoever’s keeping track, that was my point.”

“The score is one to one, then,” María agrees, “Question five: how many continents has Kara visited?”

Lena looks quizzically at Kara who nods, then shrugs. Both women write quickly and turn their boards around.

“All of them,” Kara’s written. Lena’s board reads, “7.”

“Seven is all of them, right?” Kara asks.

Lena laughs. “Someone wasn’t paying attention in primary school,” she teases.

“Ha,” Kara deadpans, “Rude. Next question?”

“Two to one, Lena. What color is Lena’s toothbrush?”

Kara gets this easily - “Red and blue,” they’ve both written, although why Kara finds this so funny is a mystery that neither woman chooses to explain. 

“The score is tied at two,” Maria says. “What is Kara’s favorite movie?”

Lena thinks for a second, tapping her marker against her lips before writing. Kara turns her board around to reveal “Grease.” Lena groans. She’d written “Love, Actually.”

“Grease, Kara? That movie is awful.”

“What?” Kara yelps, “Lena, it’s an American classic.”

“What kind of message does it send to women? That they have to change everything about themselves for love?”

Kara frowns. “Danny changes too. Plus, the music is really good.” She starts to sing _Hopelessly Devoted to You_ and Lena abandons her line of attack. María is loathe to interrupt - Kara’s voice is really, really good, but she is a professional. And as good of a song as it is, she's never been too fond of Grease either. 

“Okay, last question. Kara, this is your chance to break the tie. Who inspires Lena?”

“Ooh,” Kara says excitedly, bouncing in her seat, “I know this one!” She looks right at the camera and stage whispers, “Lena talks about this all the time.”

Lena, to her credit, just arches an eyebrow and uncaps her marker. The two women write for a couple of seconds before both looking up. “Ready?” Lena asks.

“Ready!” Kara nods, turning her board over. She’s written, “Supergirl!!!” and drawn the distinctive “S” sigil.

Lena leans over to look at Kara’s board and grins, turning hers around. “My wife,” it says, and Maria would never, ever, not in a million years have guessed that Lena Luthor would dot an ‘i’ with a heart, even surrounded as it was by a ‘w’ and an ‘fe’.

Kara, meanwhile, is fist-pumping and whooping. “Yes!” she says, “I-” She looks around, seeming to realize exactly where she is. “That is, we tied!” Kara finishes lamely, slumping back into her chair. “Yay.”

“Thanks so much, this was a lovely time,” Lena says to María, holding out a hand for her to shake. “Let us know if you need us for anything else.”

María thinks for a moment. “Actually, Mrs. Danvers, I know that you have a direct line to Supergirl.”

Kara nods - her ability to get the Girl of Steel on record has been CatCo’s most valuable weapon ever since the editor-in-chief’s early days as Ms. Grant’s assistant. 

"And Mrs. Luthor, you and Supergirl are known to be friends."

Lena arches an eyebrow, but responds in the affirmative.

“Well, we were wondering - and especially after your answer to the last question, Mrs. Danvers - if you could get Supergirl on to play the game with Lena?”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite what it may seem, I really really love Grease.


	2. Hot Seat Interviews

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started binging The Hot Ones on YouTube and it's a really fun show! So yes, I definitely took the idea for this chapter from that. 
> 
> You may have noticed that the title of the fic changed - that's meant to reflect a shift from the fic being a one-shot of the Newlyweds Game to a series of videos produced by María Veracruz for CatCo Worldwide.
> 
> Also: there are references to How to Feed Your Superhero here. Definitely not necessary to understand, but I like it when things are connected.

María Veracruz likes her job a great deal.  It’s challenging, it’s something new every day, and she’s damn good at it. The video she made of Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers playing The Newlywed Game had quickly gone viral, accruing several million views over the couple of weeks since it had been posted. María avoided the comment sections of her videos as a rule, but her sister, a fan of both women, had sent her several screenshots of comments that said something to the effect of “omg moms,” only two (okay, three) of which Camila had posted herself.

Today’s video should leave that one in the dust. María is excited about the new interview format that she’s developed, excited about having Lena Luthor back again, but she’s most excited about talking to National City’s own superhero and her second guest, Supergirl. Her research team has outdone itself this time (okay, Bailey outdid herself, and the rest of the team mostly performed to expectation) and the three women are soon ready for filming, sitting in plush armchairs against a white background.

“Lena, a trawl through your Instagram has revealed that you used to participate in a number of eating competitions.”

Lena Luthor nods. “That was almost ten years ago,” she says, the amusement evident in her voice, “And really, it was my wife who did most of the eating. I was just there for moral support.”

“In most cases,” María agrees, but Bailey’s research is impeccable, so she’s able to continue. “But you did eat…” she wrinkles her nose, unwilling to believe that there’s a restaurant that actually serves something, even a challenge dish, called Satan’s Nosehair, “an interestingly named spicy noodle challenge.”

Lena laughs delightedly. “How could I forget? It’s the one time in my life I was able to out-eat my wife. She may have a black hole where her stomach ought to be, but she wasn’t very enthused with those noodles.”

“Hey!” Supergirl interjected, “I- that is, I heard that they’re really spicy.”

Lena shrugs. “They weren’t that bad.”

Supergirl opens her mouth to respond again, but María cuts them off - best to save the competition for the camera, after all. “Anyway, given that and Supergirl’s noted participation in the yearly Potstickers Against Hunger competition-”

“Which my wife bests her at each year,” Lena cuts in with a smirk.

“Yes, that Mrs. Danvers wins,” María continues over Supergirl’s sputter, “We were hoping that the two of you would pioneer a new video series for us.”

“We’re not playing the Newlyweds Game?” Supergirl asks, her brow furrowed, “I’ve been studying up.”

María shrugs. “I’m not sure if my boss would approve of my filming her wife playing “The Newlyweds Game” with another woman.”

“You’re very considerate,” Lena says quickly, “What’s the premise of the video?”

“Well, it would be similar to a normal interview, which I’d lead, with one twist. Every few minutes, we’ll each eat a progressively spicier potsticker. We call it “Hot Seat Interviews.” Given both of your histories in competitive eating, we thought you’d be perfect for this.”

“How spicy is spicier-” Supergirl begins to ask.

“We’re in,” Lena says.

María fetches the cart of food. There are three platters, one for each woman, and each has five potstickers lined up in a row. They look innocuous enough with their identical wrappers, but María knows that within, there’s enough heat to make the most seasoned spice-heads beg for mercy. She’s no slouch when it comes to spicy food, but she only hopes that she won’t embarrass herself trying to compete with Lena’s Insta-documented love for heat and an actual superhero.

The first potsticker has a chicken based filling that’s really more spiced than it is spicy. María finishes the whole thing in two bites, and isn’t surprised to see that both of her guests have managed to down theirs as well.

“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” Supergirl says, taking a sip from her glass of milk.

María is glad that she’s playing the heat up for the camera. One of the concerns that her producers had had was that viewers can’t taste the food themselves to see how spicy it is; with a stoic guest, they might as well just conduct a normal interview. Between Supergirl’s apparent willingness to act the part and Lena’s natural affinity for the screen, María has a feeling that this could become one of the best videos she’s ever shot.

“So Mrs. Luthor, Supergirl,” she says, eager to begin the interview, “One potsticker down, can you tell us how the two of you met?”

“I notice you say ‘can’ and not ‘could,’” Lena says, “did Supergirl’s lawyers hit you with the infamous NDA?”

María winces at the reminder of the massive stack of paperwork that she had to go through in order to ensure that the video could happen. “I’m not sure,” she jokes, “Am I allowed to talk about that?”

“I’d tell you, but I fell asleep while reading it,” Lena admits, “I think I’ve read shorter textbooks.”

“You two are a riot,” Supergirl says, “Are you just trying to scare other reporters away from asking me for a story?”

“Do we have to?” María asks, “You’ve always had a close relationship with CatCo Worldwide. Is there a reason why you’ve chosen us in particular as your media outlet?” And yeah, she might be fishing a little, but rumors have to come from somewhere, right?

“Well, Cat Grant was, and is, someone that I really admire and respect and I took a lot of cues from her,” Supergirl explains, a fond smile on her lips, “I mean, she had the family, the career, in a time when that was so unheard of for a woman. And she really, really worked for it. I mean, the number of nights that she had to spend in the office... When I had to look for a jo- a journal to talk to, that was something that I found really appealing. And then later on, I saw Ms. Grant so frequently that- I mean-” Supergirl catches herself, but it’s too late. It’s as good as a verbal confirmation and María can’t keep herself from blurting out:

“So the rumors were true?”

“What rumors?” Supergirl asks, suddenly stock upright and on high alert.

“You and Catherine Grant were romantically involved?” The long-suspected romantic attachment is the only explanation that fits everything that Supergirl’s just revealed.

“I’m not- What? That’s the rumor?” Supergirl lets out a strangled laugh, “What a crazy rumor.”

“Oh my god, you have a type,” Lena says.

And then Supergirl is hiding her face behind her hands and Lena is cackling and María really, really wants to push on Lena’s comment a little bit more, but she can sense that they’re this close from having to pull the footage. The internal war between her personal curiosity and her professionalism is interrupted when Supergirl blurts out, “There was an assassin.”

It’s a pretty shocking non-sequitur, as far as non-sequiturs go go. “What?” María and Lena ask.

“It’s how we met,” Supergirl says, gesturing between Lena and herself, “There was an attack on L-Corp and on Lena and my cousin and I intervened.”

Lena takes the change of subject in stride. “She’s a regular knight in shining armor,” she says, fanning herself, before: “Cat Grant doesn’t know what she’s missing.”

María’s professional side wins out, because once they’ve all recovered, she drops that line of inquiry and the group moves on to the next potsticker. There’s definitely heat to this one; it’s a delicate kind of spice, powerful and biting, but not long lived the way, say, a ghost pepper is. Paired with pork and shrimp, it’s delicious, the kind of thing that, despite the heat, María could eat a whole plate of.

Lena seems to share her enthusiasm for the food, because after finishing her potsticker, she licks her fingers, looking sheepishly at the camera as she remembers that she has an audience.

“It’s a bad habit I picked up from my wife,” she admits, “Kara might like potstickers more than she likes me, so I’ve learned to like them as well just from the sheer exposure.”

“Hey!” Supergirl says. Her face is turning red, and it’s shiny with a thin sheen of sweat; if María was watching from home, if she hadn’t just eaten one herself, she’d almost be convinced that they’d just popped whole scotch bonnets into their mouths instead of fairly mild potstickers. “That’s not true!” she continues, fanning herself gently, “Er, Kara cares about you so much. I’m sure she likes you more than potstickers.”

Lena is all smiles when she responds, a teasing lilt to her voice. “That’s kind of you to say, Supergirl, although I have to admit that I’m a little embarrassed that you talk about me with my wife.”

“That’s a great segue to my next question,” María says quickly. She turns to Supergirl, who has taken the opportunity to take a generous drink from her glass of milk. “Supergirl, in a recent video, when Kara Danvers is asked who inspires Mrs. Luthor, she writes your name. Why do you think she did that?”

“We’re not having an affair, if that’s what you’re asking,” Lena says.

“I’m not- I wasn’t- Oh my gosh, I-” It’s a few terrifying seconds before María’s brain catches up to her heart and recognizes Lena’s tone as teasing, not angry. “My life just flashed before my eyes. My heart is racing right now.”

“I know, I can hear it. Don’t be mean, Lee,” Supergirl chides. She turns to María and returns to the original question. “Kara was probably joking. She’s funny like that, you know?”

“Joking?”

“Yeah. Lena’s such an inspirational figure herself, you know? I mean, gosh, she’s such a hard worker, such a caring woman, such a great wife. I mean, I’m inspired by Lena. So I can only imagine that Kara writing something like that was a joke.”

Lena’s eyes are misted over. It may not be an affair, that’s not a rumor that María buys into, but there’s a definite and unmistakable emotional closeness between the two women that María doesn’t believe is the business of the entire internet. She gives them a moment and then hastens on, intending to cut most of the section out.

The next is a more Korean-inspired potsticker, a _mandu_ , as María’s ex used to call them. As much as Supergirl has been playing the previous dumplings up, this is the first that María would really call “spicy.” The beef filling is flavored with kimchi and with thai peppers, a non-traditional addition that gives them a sharp heat that blossoms into the mouth.

“Delicious,” Lena says, “Where did you get these? They’re lovely.”

“Yeah,” Supergirl pants out, fanning her open mouth furiously, “Lovely.” It’s definitely within the realm of possibility that one of Supergirl’s many powers includes immaculate control over her sweat glands, but María is beginning to favor a simpler explanation, one that’s backed up by the hero pouring a fresh glass of milk.

“A few different restaurants wanted to contribute. I can get you the list,” María offers.

“Thanks,” Lena says, smiling, “It’d be nice to get some potstickers that I can eat without Kara inhaling them all.”

“Hey!” Supergirl says defensively, “She’s not that bad.”

Lena raises an eyebrow and María suddenly understands why one of Google’s autocompletes for ‘Lena Luthor’ is ‘Lena Luthor eyebrows.’ “Doesn’t she beat you every year at potsticker eating?”

Supergirl doesn’t really have a good answer for that - it’s true after all - and María dives into the next question. “Lena, Supergirl, you’re both transplants who have made National City your home. What’s your favorite thing about National City so far?”

“My wife,” Lena says immediately. Supergirl lets out a delighted peal of laughter.

“I mean it!” she insists, “When I first came here from Metropolis, everyone just saw me as The Luthor Girl except for Kara. She was my first friend and my best friend and I’m so lucky to have met her.”

Supergirl has a sheepish grin on her face. “That’s- that’s really sweet, Lee. I mean, I was going to say ‘the potstickers’ but after these, I’m not so sure about that anymore.” She thinks hard for a few seconds, her brow furrowing with the effort, before deciding: “Okay. It’s the pizza.”

The fourth potsticker is all Sichuan flavors, the deep, intense heat punctuated with the distinctive _málà_ , the mouth-numbing heat that is characteristic of the region’s cooking. The pork filling is delicious, fragrant and aromatic, and María’s desire for more is tempered only by the intense, barely tolerable heat that sears and numbs.

Lena eats hers gracefully; María is impressed to note that her glass of milk is untouched. Supergirl, on the other hand, is definitely full-on sweating at this point and María is certain that she wasn’t exaggerating her response to the earlier potstickers. Who would have thought that the woman of steel, the hero who could shoot honest-to-God lasers from her eyes, couldn’t handle spicy food?

“We can cut the interview short at any time,” María offers, trying to give Supergirl an out, “If there’s, you know, an emergency or something. A fire, or a bank robbery.”

“No,” Supergirl says, wincing at her words, “I’m okay, I can do it.”

“I put the word out that we were filming today, so crime’s taking the day off,” Lena says drily.

“If you say so,” María says, before diving back into the interview. “Lena, you’ve been an advocate for alien’s rights since the inception of the movement, back in 2017, famously making a public statement with Supergirl at the height of anti-alien sentiment the next year. What drove you, a human, to publically adopt a stance that was, for the time, so radical?”

“I would say that I was inspired by Supergirl, by her passion for doing the right thing no matter how hard it is to do, by the fact that she was doing it for a city, a country that didn’t really accept her,” Lena says, “But then I might have to concede that my wife beat me and I am far too competitive for that.”

At the mention of her name, Supergirl does a little dance in her seat, and it’s odd to use the word “adorable” to describe someone who can rip a tank apart with her bare hands, but it applies.

“I made mistakes in my life, mistakes that could have hurt many, many people, human and alien alike,” Lena continues, “Tech that could identify aliens, tech that could hurt people. Supergirl helped me to see that I have to consider my actions in context; science doesn’t exist in a vacuum.”

“You would have gotten there yourself,” Supergirl says loyally, “You’re a good person, Lee.”

“Maybe, but your way ended in fewer people getting hurt before I figured that out.”

“And?” Supergirl prompted, clearly knowing the answer she was looking for.

“And I do have to admit that it felt good to stick it to my family in such a public fashion,” Lena said, a wide smile on her face at the memory.

Realistically, the final potsticker should come with some kind of waver, but given that one of her guests was married to her editor-in-chief and the other was a literal superhero who could withstand a nuclear impact, María had figured that she was safe. Now, she’s not so sure, but she also can’t really see Supergirl taking her to court for potsticker-induced intestinal trauma.

It’s a vegetarian potsticker flavored with ghost-pepper. The lack of fat from meat makes the spice more forward on the pallet; it hits harder, cuts deeper, lingers longer, than it would with grease to muddle it. María’s eyes tear up as she takes the first bite and there’s a brief moment of horror as she realizes that if this is to become a series like she originally pitched, she’s not only going to have to finish this potsticker, but eat several more like it down the road.

Supergirl has taken the smallest nibble off of the corner. She keeps bringing the dough-wrapped packet of pain up to her lips and putting it down without opening her mouth. “Golly, this is just so spicy!” she exclaims. Something about the intonation, the words, feels familiar, but María’s mind is a little too fogged over with capsaicin to dig too deeply.

Supergirl fixes her eyes shut, opens her mouth, and deposits the entire potsticker at once. She chews once, twice, three times, and swallows, before blindly reaching for her glass of milk and chugging the whole thing down. And maybe it’s her spice-addled state, but this strikes María as the kind of bravery that real heroism is made of and no matter what she said earlier, Supergirl is inspiring, so María gulps down the rest of her potsticker as well. When she’s finished, she’s gratified to see that Lena has the decency to at least sweat a little at the dumpling that caused María so much pain and that the CEO has taken her first sip of milk.

Supergirl is clearly uncomfortable. She’s tugging at the collar of her suit and fanning herself with her hand. She reaches up and pulls her hair back, up off her neck and into a messy ponytail. She looks familiar that way, and there’s something that María is missing; she feels like she’s just shaken out a jigsaw puzzle and only has to put it together.

“I know that it’s hot and spicy,” Lena says, shivering, “But I’m not sure my body got the memo. I’ve got chills.”

“Are they multiplyin’? Are you losin’ control?” Supergirl jokes.

María is about to tell Lena that it’s okay, that feeling cool is actually a fairly common side effect of eating food this hot, when the pieces fall into place.

“Oh my God,” María says instead, “Supergirl is Kara Danvers. Supergirl is my boss.” The stricken look on Supergirl’s - Kara’s? - face and the amusement on Lena’s are confirmation enough.

Two realizations hit her at once and she’s not sure which is more horrifying. “I accused my boss of having a crush on her boss,” she moans, and then, “I’m going to have to sign so much paperwork, aren’t I?”


	3. Chopped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kind of turned into "Author writes descriptions of food." Sorry. This'll teach me to write while I'm hungry.
> 
> There's probably one more chapter left in this series before María moves on to bigger and better things, but that'll have to wait until after I'm through with my next big project. I'm about 15k words into a Jane Eyre AU that I'm pretty excited about. Hope to see you all there!

Okay, so maybe the Hot Seat Interviews hadn’t been the slam dunk video that María had hoped for. Upon review of the footage, it seemed that there was evidence in every shot that Kara and Supergirl were one and the same, and the whole thing had to be scrapped. And yeah, if she thought that the paperwork to get Supergirl onto the show had been bad, the paperwork that she had to work through upon inadvertently discovering Supergirl’s identities was the stuff of nightmares.

Worst yet was that she had, in anticipation of the video, dropped several large hints on CatCo Video’s social media pages that Supergirl would be appearing in an upcoming video. Thankfully, Kara had been understanding and had offered a solution - apparently Supergirl worked with a Martian who could take on the form of others, and who could be persuaded to appear in a video along with Kara herself.

That the two appear together seemed the best solution. Lena’s chemistry with Kara was unmistakable if you knew what to look for, even if Kara was Supergirl, and having Kara alongside Supergirl could help put to rest some of the (admittedly correct) rumors which held that the hero and the editor-in-chief of CatCo Media were two sides of the same coin.

This is how María comes to find herself sitting in a CatCo media studio across from both Kara Danvers and Supergirl on a balmy Saturday morning. Seeing the two side by side like this is an incredibly jarring experience. Their features are identical, but María can see how Kara got away with the act for so long. Supergirl’s posture is straighter, her stance more assured, and there’s a confident set to her face that goes a lot further than the lack of glasses in disguising her features.

The video for today requires a couple of additional pairs of eyes, so María has invited Lena back as well as another special guest, both of whom should be arriving any minute. She’s thrown out any illusions about not being nervous about these videos - the concentration of celebrity and of power in the studio is about to go through the roof.

Lena’s only just entered the room when Supergirl lets out a noise that can only really be described as an undignified squawk. María turns to see that her face is bright red. “Mrs. Luthor!” the hero cries, “Control yourself, please!”

Lena cackles. “Can I help it if I’m a red-blooded woman and my wife is beautiful enough when there’s just one of her? Serves you right for listening in any way.”

“It’s hardly listening when you’re mentally shouting,” Supergirl fumes, “Good lord, woman, you’re a human, you can’t bend like that.”

Lena’s libido aside, there are other problems with how identical the two women are. There are already rumors floating around about the hero’s identity and the internet is nothing if not obsessive. María is well aware that anything she posts with Supergirl in it will be endlessly dissected for clues as to the hero’s identity, by both fans and enemies alike, and while Supergirl’s, well, swagger, is enough to set them apart in person, María isn’t sure that it will stand up to the long term scrutiny of the internet.

“Can you only copy faces, or can you make things up?” she asks.

Supergirl raises her eyebrow. “It’s easier from a model, but I have some limited control,” she says.

“It’s just - this is a video, it’s recorded, and there’ll be close ups of your faces. If they’re completely identical, someone out there will put the pieces together, and you can’t un-post things on the internet.”

Supergirl’s phase shifts fluidly; her cheekbones become a little more defined, her eyes a little more angular, her lips a little thinner. Her irises shift away from Kara’s stormy greens to a pale, clear blue, and her hair lightens half a shade. The end result is still distinctly Supergirl, but she’s more alien, more ethereal.

“How’s that?” she asks.

“That was so weird,” María says, shivering.

“You think it’s weird for you,” Kara says, “It’s like a funhouse mirror.”

“But my face,” Supergirl says, “It’s okay now?”

María looks at Supergirl, then at Kara, then back at Supergirl. “Mrs. Danvers has a scar, just here,” she says, motioning towards her eyebrow.

Supergirl nods, and the scar ripples and recedes, until there’s just smooth skin. It’s less weird this time, although whether that’s because María knew what to expect or because the change was smaller isn’t entirely clear.

“So what are we doing this time?” Kara asks, “I think Jo-, er, Supergirl, would have a pretty big advantage in the Newlyweds Game.”

“Well, actually, we wanted to try something new, our own CatCo Video take on Chopped. Kara, I know you’re a fan, but Supergirl, are you familiar with the concept?”

“... I may have seen an episode or two,” the hero admits, eliciting a surprised smile from Kara.

“Well, we have three sets of mystery ingredients and were hoping to see what the two of you could come up with. We should have all of the kitchen basics, but if there’s something else you need, you can just duck off camera to get it and pretend that we had it the whole time, right?”

“I’m in!” Kara says excitedly, “Do we have ranges here?”

María nods. “Installing a kitchen was part of the Hot Seat Interviews proposal, so it seemed like a good way to make use of that as well.”

“Who’s going to judge?” Supergirl asks, “Because if it’s just you and Lena, that seems a little biased.”

“Well, we do have a guest judge, but I’m not sure she’s less bia-”

“Careful there, Magda, before you impugn my journalistic integrity,” her guest judge says, entering the set. María fights the urge to roll her eyes - Cat Grant always knew how to make a dramatic entrance.

“Ms. Grant!” Kara squeals, rushing to hug her former boss, “I thought you were in Tahiti!”

“I was,” she says drily, “But then I heard that a certain superhero had inadvertently outed herself to the video department and needed bailing out. Is this a thing now? Do we hug?”

“We do,” Kara says firmly, “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

María is amazed to see that Cat doesn’t protest any further - she can see where the rumors of their involvement had started. The formidable Cat Grant, almost voluntarily hugging someone is as mind-boggling of an event as she can imagine.

“Mrs. Luthor,” Cat says, once she’s broken apart from Kara, “And I assume you’re the Martian again?”

“J’onn Jones, ma’am,” Supergirl says, her voice suddenly dipping into what María assumes is the alien’s natural voice.

“Yes, well, fool me once,” Cat says, and the reporter in María is dying to know the story, but the videographer in her knows that they need to begin.

“Okay,” she calls out, “Kara, Supergirl, I’m going to need you two to get to your stations. Judges, we’ll sit over at that table where we can watch the action.”

It’s kind of a rush seeing four of the most powerful women she can imagine (and yeah, maybe her mind is still having a little trouble seeing Supergirl and Kara Danvers as different people) but she tries to tamp the feeling down and remain professional, especially in light of Supergirl’s ability to read minds.

Cat sits to her left and Lena to her right. Their table has a good view of the kitchen, which has two identical stations, each equipped with a stove, a burner, a sink, and an island to work at. The islands each have a large wicker basket on them, the secret ingredients inside covered with plain white cloths.

“Please open your first basket,” María says. As Kara and Supergirl pull each ingredient out, María names them out loud, “To create your appetizer, you must use cinnamon sticks, beef tongue, maraschino cherries, and kale.”

Each of the three judges put one of the baskets together - this was Lena’s, and María is curious to know what her thought process was.

“What made you think of those ingredients?” she asks.

“I like beef tongue,” she says simply, “It’s really tender; I’m excited to see what they do with it. The kale is because Kara hates kale.”

It’s true - Kara is currently unwrapping the package of beef tongue, but she glances up every now and again to give the bag of kale a baleful glare. It she didn’t know that Kara’s looks could literally kill, María would probably find it quite funny.

There’s a loud crack and all heads turn to Supergirl, who holds the shattered remains of her jar of cherries in one hand, and most of the top in her other.

“The, uh, lid was stuck,” she explains, “So I kept turning and-” she shrugs. “Is there another jar that I can use? I think there are glass bits in these cherries.”

Kara quickly opens her jar - thankfully without incident - and pours half of the contents into a little bowl. She hands it over and returns to her own cooking. It takes Supergirl all of two seconds to clean up the broken glass, gather up the fallen cherries, and mop and dry the floor, and she’s back to preparing her meal.

The two contestants only have twenty minutes to prepare their appetizers, and the time goes by quickly in a blur (in Supergirl’s case, sometimes literally) of activity.

“Okay, that’s it! Time’s up,” María says once the timer on her phone goes off. They’ll need a more visual timepiece in the future, but for now, this will have to do. “Supergirl, can you bring us your appetizer?”

“I’ve used the pressure cooker to poach some of the beef tongue, which I’ve spiced with cinnamon, Chinese five-spice. There’s some soy sauce in the poaching liquid as well. I’ve paired this with a kale-pesto, which I’ve used to dress my pasta salad. There’s tri-color, cherry tomatoes, and some of the maraschino cherries in there, which I’ve soaked to hopefully take out some of the sugar.”

María takes a bite first of the salad - it’s a strange experience. The cherries are almost sickeningly sweet, despite having been soaked, and are entirely out of place in what is otherwise a good salad. The beef is next and although it’s powerfully spiced, the time in the pressure cooker has reduced it to a spoon-soft mess.

“This is more like beef jell-o than a poached piece of meat,” Lena says, echoing María’s thoughts, “Honestly a little disappointed. Did you sear it before poaching it?”

“I didn’t know if I had time after the cherry jar burst,” Supergirl admits.

“It took you seconds to clean it up,” Lena says, amused.

“I think the cherries were out of place in the salad,” María says, “You were going for a kind of Italian vibe, I guess, but they were too sweet.”

Supergirl shakes her head. “It was meant to be a take on a Saturnian dish,” she says, “I guess I forgot that they metabolize sugar differently from Earthlings.” She says it so naturally that María isn’t certain if she’s joking - is Saturn even inhabited?

Her fellow judges either know Supergirl’s explanation is on the level, or they’re as unwilling as María to admit that they don’t know if it is, because they let the comment slide. “The two halves of the plate did not work together,” Cat says, moving on, “Completely different palates. As nonsensical a pairing as a skirt and flight, really. It’s a shame, the pesto really is quite good.”

“Thank you,” Supergirl says. She waits expectantly, but the judges have said their piece.

“Kara?” María calls out, “What have you made for us?”

Kara takes two trips to bring over the three plates. “I’ve made a leafy green salad with a cherry-balsamic dressing. The greens are kale, red lettuce, spinach, and arugula. On top, there’s shaved crispy beef tongue, which I’ve seasoned with cinnamon, some more of the cherry juice, and black tea leaves.”

María’s barely taken a bite when she hears Lena let out an excited gasp. “Oh, this is like that tongue that we had at- whose house was it?” she says.

Kara smiles. “You’re right, I based it on the _lengua_ that Jaime made for us.”

“It’s nice, it works. It’s a little sweeter than Jaime’s was, but I think the extra sugar works. It helped crisp the tongue up.”

“The salad is good, the greens were well selected,” Cat says, “And the cherry syrup being common to both parts helps tie the dish together. I’m glad you learned something about food since the disasters you brought me for lunch.”

“Tell me about those, Cat,” Lena says, leaning forwards eagerly.

“Well, as everyone should know, Kara used to work for me as my assistant. I’m not sure where the poor girl learned to eat, but I learned that I had to give very explicit instructions about what I wanted for lunch. I told her to just get me one of whatever she had, and she brought back a slice of pepperoni pizza with potstickers and scrambled eggs on top of it.”

“In her defense, that’s one of her favorites,” Lena says, rolling her eyes affectionately, “If she shared that with you, it probably meant that she liked you.”

“Good lord, is that how she flirts? With the Frankenstein monster of lunch specials?” Cat asks, as Lena shakes with laughter.

“Wow I really hate this conversation,” Kara says loudly, who is still standing in front of the judge’s table.

“Sorry, babe,” Lena says, but it’s clear from the tone of amusement that she isn’t at all.

“Let’s move on to the next course now,” María says quickly.

Supergirl clears aside the remnants of hers and Kara’s appetizers as María fetches the next set of baskets and places one on each island.

“For your entree,” she says, once she’s retaken her seat at the judge’s table, “Your baskets contain chunky peanut butter, packaged Shin Ramen, turkey bacon, and honey. You’ve got half an hour. Time starts now!”

As the two heroes rush into action, María turns to Cat, who is seated to her left. “These don’t really seem like the kinds of ingredients that I would associate with Cat Grant. Is there a story here?”

“My son, Carter, is in college now, so I asked him what he’d eaten in the last week. This is nearly an exhaustive list,” Ms. Grant says, with more than her normal hint of disapproval, “I left off the Cheetos and the various energy drinks.”

“Shin Ramen is the Korean stuff, right?” María asks, “I’ve heard it’s pretty good.”

Cat rolls her eyes. “No matter how good it is, I thought that I’d raised my son better than instant noodles.”

They’re interrupted by a yelp as the contents of Kara’s frying pan go up in flames. Supergirl turns and uses her frost breath to put out what appears to be a minor grease fire.

“Thanks,” Kara says, leaning back to catch her breath.

“Babe,” Lena says, wiggling her fingers, “Babe!”

“What? Oh-” Kara says, removing her hand from the burner that she’d been leaning on. “Uh, lucky it wasn’t on, huh?”

It’s not even a little bit convincing; as if the gently smoking frying pan weren’t evidence enough, the inductive surface is still cherry red. María sighs - it’s another video that she’ll have to do at least the first pass of editing herself, which means another couple of long nights with only Final Cut for company.

“Kara, what have you made for us?” she asks once time has run out.

“I crushed the noodles and used them as breadcrumbs for my coconut-honey bacon-wrapped shrimp,” Kara says, “There’s also a little bit of honey in the peanut-soy dipping sauce.”

Each judge has a plate with four pieces of fried shrimp as well as a little dish of a thick brown sauce. The shrimp is delicately fried, the noodles working better as breadcrumbs than María had expected.

“Using the noodles as breadcrumbs was a good idea,” Cat weighs in, “I was afraid that they’d soak up too much moisture from the shrimp, but I suppose the bacon has acted as an insulator and kept the whole package crisp.”

“I like it, it works, but it feels more like an appetizer,” Lena says, “I’m surprised, really - with the amount you eat, I’d have thought you would give me too much food, not too little.”

“There were more of them,” Kara says, “I made about twenty five.”

“Where did they go?” Lena asks, but María can tell that she already knows the answer.

“I ate them,” Kara admits.

“I suppose we’re lucky that we had anything to judge at all,” Cat says lightly.

María motions Supergirl over - she may have made a terrible mistake inviting Cat back. The tag team combination of Lena and Cat are too good at pushing Kara’s buttons, and apart from being an alien superhero, Kara is also María’s boss, and keeping her happy seems to be a good general strategy for life.

“I used the noodles from the package to make a stir fry,” Supergirl explains “There’s some crisped and chopped turkey bacon for texture and salt, some broccoli and onion, and a scrambled egg. The sauce is mostly honey, fish sauce, and peanut butter, but there’s some extra spices in there as well.”

Supergirl has garnished the noodles with chopped scallions and basil leaves. It’s an attractive dish, and quite fragrant. María scoops some up - it tastes as good as it smells. The noodles are chewier, more durable than the rice noodles that she would usually expect for a dish like this, but the turkey bacon works remarkably well.

“You’ve stuck to a more recognizable cuisine this time,” Cat notes, “Unless this is an Andromedan delicacy that I’m unaware of?”

Supergirl chuckles. “No, Ms. Grant, this is all Earth. I’ve learned my lesson.”

“This is quite good,” Lena says, “If you get the chance, Supergirl, could you write down what you used in the sauce? I’d love to make this at home for my wife some time.”

“Traitor,” Kara says, good naturedly.

“María, do you have anything to add?” Cat asks.

María, who has just taken a rather large bite of noodle looks up. “Mmm mo ‘earry,” she says. She swallows the mouthful and tries again. “No, not really. Are there leftovers?”

There aren’t, so it’s a disappointed María who ushers in the next round.

“If you’ll open your last baskets, you’ll see that for dessert, we’d like you to include rambutan, blue curaçao, almond flour, and white chocolate.”

This was María’s basket, and she’s filled it with her favorite flavors, without thinking about whether or how they’ll combine.

The actual cooking portion lasts thirty minutes and is rather sedate. There’s a moment when Kara takes her batter into the pantry, makes a tremendous racket for about twenty seconds and then returns and pops her baking trays into the oven, but otherwise, this course goes more sedately than the other two: nothing exploded, nothing caught on fire.

Supergirl’s dessert looks like a thin pancake which has been folded twice into a wedge-shaped quarter. Alongside it is a shot glass full of an electric blue liquid which has the consistency of thin maple syrup.

“Can you explain what you’ve made for us?” María asks.

“Well, when I saw the blue curaçao and the rambutan, I thought of a kind of tropical crêpes suzette,” Supergirl says, “So I made a white chocolate crêpe with the almond flour, and alongside, you have the _beurre Suzette_.”

“You know, when I hear crêpe suzette, I think of flambé,” Cat says, looking at the dish in front of her, “These are just pancakes served with a shot.”

“If you’d just pour the contents of the glass over your crêpes and then lean back a bit,” Supergirl directs. The three judges do as they’re asked, before a blast of heat vision ignites each of the plates. “Et voila, crêpes suzette,” Supergirl says, self-satisfaction dripping from every syllable.

It’s an impressive display, María has to admit, and a good way of playing up the hero’s powers. Once the plate has extinguished itself, María forks a section off and puts it into her mouth. It’s not as hot as she’d expected, and much of the taste of alcohol seems to have burnt off. It’s quite sweet, but the blue curaçao and the rambutan combine to lend an edge to the otherwise cloying sauce of butter and caramelized sugar.

“It’s quite good,” Lena says, “Although I don’t really taste the white chocolate.”

“I really am not a fan of the color, but it was a good use of the basket ingredients,” Cat says.

“Thanks very much, Supergirl,” María says, “Kara, can you bring your dessert out?”

Kara sets out a tray of macarons. There are twenty or so, delicately arranged in neat offset rows. They’re a bright, shiny white with a shockingly blue filling. The effect feels like the dessert was made for a college graduation, where adherence to color was more important than overall aesthetics.

“Well, if I had frost breath, I might have made an ice cream,” Kara explains, clearly put out that she wasn’t able to use her powers, “But clearly I don’t, because I’m not Supergirl, so instead, I made macarons. They’re, um, kind of based on those Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, but obviously the colors are completely different, so they’re my ‘Surprise Orange’ macarons. I hope you enjoy them.”

The judges each pick up one of the macarons. While María pops the entire thing into her mouth, Lena takes a gentle bite and examines the cross-section. Cat, meanwhile, has pulled the two halves apart and is examining the construction.

“They’re a little overworked,” Cat says, “It’s why the foot is so long, the little bit below the shiny dome.”

“Well, at home I have this, uh, really good electric mixer,” Kara says, “So I’m not really used to making the meringue at normal speed. I mean, by hand.”

“We have an electric mixer?” Lena asks innocently, “I had no idea.”

“You should look harder,” Kara says haughtily.

“Well, I think they’re really good,” María says.

“I knew I hired you for a reason,” Kara replies, but her smile is genuine and wide.

“They are good,” Lena says, “But if I remember correctly, don’t you have to air macarons for half an hour to develop a film before they bake? How did you manage that?”

Kara shoots her wife a look and tries to explain how she managed. “Well, I figured that developing the film is all about exposure to air, so I fanned them.”

“You fanned them,” Lena says, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. I took them into the pantry and I fanned them really, really hard.” María has a suspicion that the pantry, which began the shoot neat and orderly, is now something of a mess.

“If the two of you can give us a moment, I think we’re ready to decide on a winner,” María says.

Kara and Supergirl leave, hopefully to clean up the pantry, and the three judges give their opinions. Cat thinks that Supergirl had the superior meal, on the strength of her entree and the dramatic flambé. Lena loyally favors her wife, citing the thirty minute macarons as an innovation. For María’s own part, she has to give it to Supergirl - the two had gone relatively even in the appetizer and dessert round, but she’d enjoyed the noodles far more than the fried shrimp, which she’d found a little heavy.

“Yes!” Supergirl cries out from the pantry, racing back to the judge’s table, “Finally, payback for all those potsticker challenges.”

Kara follows more slowly, and there’s a definite wobble to her lower lip. Lena rushes out of her seat to catch her wife up in her arms.

“Aw, babe,” Lena says, nosing Kara’s cheek, “You’re a champion to me, you know that?”

“Are you being extra cuddly because Cat’s around?” Kara asks, “You know those rumors about us weren’t true, right?”

“Weren’t true? Kara!” Cat exclaims, putting a hand over her heart, “Do you mean to tell me you’ve forgotten our night of passion?”

“I’m so happy that I came to this shoot,” Lena says as Kara begins to splutter, “Cat, do you want to do lunch while you’re in the city?”

“I could be convinced,” Cat admits, before narrowing her eyes. “You’re not going to invite James Olsen or the I.T. cherub, are you?”

“I’m sure they’d be happy to see you,” Kara says unconvincingly.

“This has been fun,” Supergirl says, “And I’d love to stay for the awards ceremony, but I think there’s a stuck train uptown that I should see to.” The hero waves goodbye, opens a window, and leaps out, her form shimmering into something much larger and greener as she goes.

Lena sighs. “I’ll see you at home, Kar,” she says, “Try not to be too late, hmm?”

“I’ll do my best,” Kara promises, kissing her wife on the cheek. There’s a whir of color and Supergirl stands in front of them, before leaping out of the already open window.

Cat and Lena head out soon after, unfazed by the goings on of the day, as if watching two superheros cook a meal and then fly out of a window is an everyday occurrence for them. It strikes María that it probably is - what must it be like, she wonders, to become inured to something so fantastic?

She turns to survey the now empty studio. The kitchen is a mess, with dirty dishes piled high and half-used packages of food strewn about. The pantry, she’s sure, is in a state of disaster, and she’ll have to go over the video footage with a fine-toothed comb to make sure she doesn’t miss any instance of Kara displaying powers that she shouldn’t have. It’s a lot of work in front of her, but María can’t help but feel pleased - she’s certain that the day she’s just had will be nearly impossible to top. She really does have a great job.


End file.
